Sir Ernest MacMillan School Council 2020-2021
December 7, 2020 – 6:30-7:15 p.m., over Google Meet
Present: Chris Row (Principal) Christian Brudnjak (Faculty)
Andrea Howard (Staff) * Jenna Burnham
Diane Leclerc * Karmyn Bokma
* Gail Blakeley * Rosanne Kendall
Sarah Bean Melissa Whiting
Sarah Head Nikki Wesley Pembleton
*Voting member
WELCOME
Karmyn welcomed everyone and we went around introducing ourselves.
Rosanne motioned to approve the minutes from October, Gail seconded. Approved.
PRINCIPAL’S REPORT
Mr. Row welcomed everyone.
He reported that at the time of the learning model switch at the end of November, 8 SEM students came back to the classroom from virtual learning, and 7 left the classroom to go to virtual. Therefore, not much impact on SEM specifically. The school also received 4 new registrations at the same time, so some classes are a tiny bit bigger now, but no reorganization of classes or staffing was required.
Mr. Row was happy to report that all is well at SEM right now re: Covid. The protocols are working – cohorting, cleaning, etc.
The school has been hosting spirit days pretty much every other week to keep the kids engaged. Staff have been taking pictures of all the special days, and we’ll make a slideshow for a virtual assembly to take place just before Christmas.
The gym is back in use as a gym; the staff room has been moved from the gym to the library.
Composite photos for last year’s grads got created, and the June 2020 grads were able to come back to the school to pick them up, along with any awards that the kids had won. Mr. Row commented that it was great to see the kids again. There was general delight that this had been done.
He reported that two staff members will be leaving at the holidays: Lana the secretary (her contract will be finished after next week), and Mrs. Blackie, who is moving north to take care of her mother. She will be gone after the Xmas break. Her departure will leave a big hole in the school community. Nikki suggested we put out an Instagram post alerting the whole community to the staff leaving. Mr. Row replied that the news will be in the next Messenger. The only reason he’s not announcing it publicly yet is because he wants to tell Mrs. Blackie’s class first.
We’ve received approval from the board to start booking grad photos for the third week of January. General rejoicing!
TREASURER’S REPORT
In Ann’s absence, Mr. Row reported that not much has changed in our financial situation. He commented that when we had applied for a PRO grant last year, we had received $500 to spend on engaging the community. But because of everything being shut down, we’ve had to give it back. Which is a shame, but not unexpected.
GENERAL DISCUSSION
A total of 14 people joined the 2 Zoom chats for parents. Some excellent connections were made and good conversations were had. The question, “How has the transition back to school been?” was answered with a resounding 10/10 by the parents on the chats. Lots of praise was given for the positive environment that the school staff have created. A suggestion was made that since this year’s new parents have never even set foot in the school (re: protocols), maybe we could make a video of a virtual school tour, just to give a sense of what the building looks like.
Nikki commented that the Zoom chat was a really non-threatening and lovely way to get used to council. She also offered her services as a video content producer to help create that virtual tour video. Mr. Row acknowledged that the video would be an excellent idea and said he’ll plan to do it in January.
Karmyn explained that there’s a sub-committee to plan ideas for the holiday season, and turned it over to Jenna to present. Jenna explained that we really wanted to create a sense of community during the Christmas season, and one idea that we had was to create a family holiday poster contest/event. Students/families can design their own holiday poster and submit it for a prize, then post it in their window over the holidays so that people walking by can see the posters in the windows.
An email address has been created specifically for this contest, so people can send in their entries. We’d like to be able to offer prizes, like Tim Hortons gift cards for the top 3 entries or something. Also, we’d like the deadline to be Dec. 15, so there’s time to judge and announce winners by the 18th.
Mr. Row said this is a great idea. He commented that the school leadership has been looking for a while for things to do to engage the broader community outside the school walls, and this is a great way to do that. He said we don’t necessarily have to offer prizes, just hype up the entry process itself. He’s willing to do the judging if we decide to go ahead with prizes, or to coordinate the judging.
Discussion re: do we want to do prizes? Yes. Discussion: what prizes? Nikki offered a pair of wireless headphones that she won and has never used. Mr. Row suggested that instead of judging, we’ll say that we’re putting all entries into a draw, and one lucky entry will win the headphones. General agreement. Karmyn asked – now that the prize is so awesome, do we say only one entry per person? Mr. Row said no.
Confirmation: deadline to submit is Dec. 15, draw will happen on the 16th, prize handed out on the 17th, and then result announced in the Messenger on the 18th.
Karmyn pointed out that we really need to emphasize the “post it in your window” part as well, since that’s a big part of the community-building. She thanked the sub-committee for their work on this initiative.
CHAIR’S REPORT
Karmyn asked whether there’s anything we should be thinking about as we move into the new year. Or are we okay for now and we’ll just start discussing things at the next meeting?
Mr. Row commented that January may be a weird month, possibly even a write-off. There may be a lot of people away, depending what happens over the Christmas break. That’s why the school is booking grad photos for January, just in case. (Normally it’s April.) The next in-person/virtual switch time is in February, and then report cards come out the third week of February. It probably won’t be until after March Break that we have a better sense of whether we can do anything fun in the spring. He proposed that we not meet again until March 1, once the weirdness of the winter has been sorted out. There are a ton of things that he won’t even have information about until February – like, what’s going to happen with grad?
However, even if we’re not having a formal council meeting until March 1, we can still discuss things by email and even create sub-committees by email before that. We should maybe have some more Zoom chats with parents etc. during January and February as well.
In the spring we can talk about the landscaping around the school. We have money earmarked for it.
Sarah Head proposed that instead of an indoor movie night, we look into an outdoor movie night in the spring, once it’s warm enough for lawn chairs and blankets. General agreement. Mr. Row said there would be a ton of logistics to work out, but it’s a great idea and we might be able to look into it in the new year.
Nikki commented that if January does get really weird/unpleasant, we should focus on more events similar to the holiday poster contest. Things to bring the community together. General agreement.
Diane asked Mr. Row what’s happening with school photos. He said that right now the board is focusing on getting grad photos done. If the grad photos go well, then he thinks there might be more of a chance for school photos.
Sarah Head asked re: gifts for teachers/classmates. What should/could we do? Mr. Row reported that the official policy is that nothing gets brought in from home to be given to (or shared with) another person. So nothing is allowed to be given to classmates etc. However, he’s not forbidding teacher gifts – he’s informed the teachers that whatever gifts they receive, they need to let them sit for a couple of days to “de-germ” before taking them home.
Karmyn reported that she attended Margo’s SuperCouncil meeting last month. It was very fruitful, council chairs sharing ideas etc. Everyone loved our holiday poster suggestion and said they would try something similar at their own schools.
Mr. Row wished everyone a safe and happy holiday season.
Karmyn adjourned the meeting at 7:15 p.m.